Minister of State and President of Qatar National Library H E Dr. Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari addressing the event.
Doha, Qatar: Qatar National Library has opened the fifth edition of its Libraries Lead Forum, bringing together library professionals, industry experts, and community leaders from Qatar and around the world.
Running from October 14 to 15 at the Library under the theme “Reimagining Libraries as Social Infrastructure,” the forum explores how libraries serve as essential spaces for connection, equitable learning, and collective growth in a world defined by rapid technological advancement.
The forum began on October 13 with an interactive pre-forum workshop, “Co-Designing the Social Library: Tools for Community-Led Transformation,” led by Assistant Professor and Head of the Information School at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dr. Khulud Ali Sahhari.
The workshop equipped participants with practical frameworks and participatory design methods to shape services and spaces that build social capital and bridge digital and social divides.
The main forum opened on October 14 with addresses by Minister of State and President of Qatar National Library,
H E Dr. Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari and Executive Director of Qatar National Library Tan Huism. The opening programme also featured a pre-recorded video keynote by Leslie Weir, President of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and a message from President of the Arab Federation for Libraries and Information (AFLI), Prof Emad Issa Saleh.
In his opening remarks, H E Dr. Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari reflected on this year’s forum theme, “At its core, our forum theme envisions the Library as a cornerstone of community—a space where people gather to learn, exchange ideas, cultivate trust, and unlock new possibilities. It challenges us to consider everything a library brings to a person’s life: knowledge they can use, skills that help them grow, and a genuine sense of belonging.”
He added, “At Qatar National Library, serving our community is a sacred trust—one through which we preserve our shared heritage, broaden access to knowledge, and open doors for learning and connection.”
In her welcome address, Tan Huism said, “There is an important difference between designing services for our communities and designing them with our communities. Qatar National Library is proud to bring together colleagues from Qatar, the region, and around the world to challenge our assumptions, learn from one another, and explore what we can do differently tomorrow that we are not doing today.”
Representatives of seven regional libraries—namely, the House of Wisdom in Sharjah, Abdul Hameed Shoman Public Library in Jordan, Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) Library in Qatar, Ithra Library in Saudi Arabia, Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt, the Iraqi National Library and Archives, and Sultan Qaboos University Library in Oman—then shared how their institutions are making a positive impact in their communities. In the afternoon, attendees joined six breakout sessions on topics ranging from cultural memory and active citizenship to digital knowledge systems and children’s futures, including presentations by the Library’s specialists on the Manara research repository and on investing in childhood through libraries.
